Balblair 1990 Second Release from 2014, 2015 and 2016

Kristen and I drank scotch whisky when we visited Fiddler's Inn in July 2016. It's a good thing to do.

That's (BORAT VOICE) my wife, a bottle of Balblair 1990 and the whisky sponge. Very nice.

We sampled a number of other whiskies that night, including a 21 year old sherry puncheon of Balblair from G&M and an 11 year old sherry puncheon from Glendronach, but the official 1990 Balblair Second Release won the day, unanimously.

Over the next year I obtained this "Second Release" in three forms:
1. Bought a mini of the 2014 release at a gift shop near Ben Nevis.
2. Bought a sample of the 2016 release from Whiskysite.
3. Was given an entire 750mL bottle of the 2015 release by Amy of Ten27 Communications, which was a very very generous thing. Thank you!

Yes, these are three different bottlings of the "Second Release", with a different bottling year listed on its label. In honor of Kristen's birthday, I am going to review all three. Right here, right now.

Distillery: Balblair

Ownership: Inver House (via Thai Beverages plc via International Beverage Holdings Ltd.)

Region: Northern Highlands

Maturation: "American oak, ex-bourbon barrels"+ "Spanish oak, sherry butts"

Vintage: 1990
Bottled: 2014 and 2015 and 2016

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No

2014 Bottling
The nose is very tight at first, then fades out entirely at the 40 minute mark. In between, there's medium dark chocolate, black pepper, black cherry ice cream and cherry lollipops. The palate proves to be more vibrant with cherry lollies, cigar tobacco, blueberry jam and tart acidic citrus. With time it abandons the citrus for coffee and picks up a little bit of toffee, while getting sweeter and more floral. The sweet and floral finish also includes tobacco and coffee. It includes a mix of bitterness and berry jam.

2015 Bottling
The nose delights with tobacco, mocha, dried mango slices, cloves, cocoa, toffee pudding, rosewater, old books and on and on and on with something new emerging every few minutes. The palate has good mild cigars, molasses and toffee pudding with roasted almonds. Limes, dried apricots and just a slight saltiness. The finish holds onto the molasses and limes, then adds dried cherries and tobacco and stones.

2016 Bottling
This one's nose also offers up a wide variety of characteristics, though more hectically so. Cinnamon, pineapple, Heath bar, cherry lollipops, lemons, blue scented markers. Hints of walnuts and paint VOCs. The big, vibrant palate balances sweet and tart with a good IPA-like bitterness. Its berries are more on the fresh than dried side. It picks some oranges along the way. It finishes with the IPA note, brown sugar, nutty oloroso, lots of citrus and a little bit of tobacco.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I am delighted to say this big bottle of darkness was the winner:

The 2014 registered the most straightforward sherried style, and its nose was short on length and substance. Thankfully its palate pulled it up. The 2016 bottling sat right between the 2014 and 2015 in quality and character. It tilted a bit to the strange side sometimes, but that added to the fun. With its gorgeous nose, silky dense palate and dark earthy finish, the 2015 proved damned delightful. Usually I find the first few pours from the bottle to be a bit tight and limited, but not with this one. Or perhaps it will get even better with time.

One thing I don't know is: What is this "Second Release" technically? The first release seems to have been a travel retail thing, bottled in 2008-2009. The second release had at least five bottlings, from 2013 to 2017, so how does that make it a single release? Was there one giant batch that was kept in steel over those five years, or was it really multiple batches?

There are two things I do know. There won't be a Third Release because the distillery ditched their vintage bottlings and went with age-stated whiskies in 2019. And on the organoleptic side, the contents of the 2014-2016 have similar elements and the quality of the batch(es) is/are good to great. Though the 2014 was my least favorite here, I enjoyed it immensely in Drumnadrochit. So though the naming of the whisky is confusing, the bottles' contents are often delicious. (The 2015 is the best, though.)

Availability - Getting scarce in Europe and the US
Pricing - $150-$200 probably
2014 Rating - 84
2015 Rating - 89 (or potentially higher)
2016 Rating - 87

Ben Nevis 27 year old 1990 Le Gus't, cask 5

When I had first heard this whisky had spent 12 years in a sherry cask then 15 years in a port pipe, I had two simultaneous thoughts:

1.) WTF?, with the "W" = "Why"
2.) Well, at least someone is having fun out there.

I wanted to try it, but its price was too prohibitive for any version of WTF. Happily I was able to get in on a bottle split a couple months ago. As you can see below, the liquid's color is......shall we say, vibrant.

Distillery: Ben Nevis
Region: Highlands (Western)
Independent Bottler: Le Gus't
Series: Selection XV
Age: 27 years old (9 November 1990 - 10 June 2018
Maturation: 12 years in sherry cask(s), then 15 years in a portpipe
Cask #: 5
Outturn: 736
Alcohol by Volume: 58.9%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT
It's still whisky, at least in the nose. While plenty of berry jams and candies waft up from the glass, there's still a distinct musty Ben Nevis note in the mix. There are also green grapes and honeydew. After 30+ minutes additional notes of raspberries and wet dogs appear. It's like Bruichladdich Black Art but better! *ducks flying pans* The palate is plenty hot, and actually sort of hoppy. There's also a strong peppercorn note which is something I usually associate with extra young spirit. It's not as sweet or tannic as I'd expected. There are hints pickle brine and industrial smoke. It gets port-ier with time. Lots of berry jams, again. It finishes with black pepper, brine, heat, industrial smoke and some dried berries.

DILUTED TO ~48%abv, or 1⅓ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
Berries and wine in the nose, then fruity cinnamon, grape bubblegum and PX. A slight peat smoke in the background. More berries than brine in the palate. It's sweeter now, and the tannins still don't overwhelm the rest. The quirky phenolics and hoppy notes remain. It finishes sweet, peppery, hoppy and slightly metallic.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
It's neither a hot mess, nor "so bad it's good". It's as if the Ben Nevis spirit is too wild to be totally submerged, so it lurches out in the form of pickles, dark smoke and beer when one least expects it. So, no, the whisky isn't a well balanced, fully formed thing.

The casketry makes one wonder. It takes more than one sherry cask to fill port pipe, maybe even three hogsheads. How strong was the whisky going into the port pipe? And what kind of warehouse was it? That's a high ABV for 27 total years, and a very high outturn for 15 years in a port pipe. The result is something quite modern, lots of fortified wine extraction sitting atop some rawness. But again, it almost succeeds despite all this because it's Ben Nevis.

I don't adore the thing as much as the Whiskybase community does, but I like it more than Sjoerd did. Though I don't know how to score it, I'm happy with having only bought 2 ounces worth.

Availability - European specialty retailers, though it's close to selling out
Pricing - €180-€210, I think

Rating - 83 (maybe?)

Yamazaki Mizunara Cask 2012 Edition

This was the one I had wanted. The Mizunara Cask. All you Fedora fu---, um, followers could chase the annual Sherry Casks for the rest of time. And whoever wanted the Bourbon Barrel could have 'em.

Then I never got a bottle. Then life went on. And now, in 2020, I have a sample.

Scheduled two months before it occurred, the highly anticipated tasting turned out to be neither deeply mystical nor solemn. Exhaustion had set in long before the girls' bedtime, as is the case with every quarantine evening. Exhaustion for Papa, that is. In order to keep our girls from blasting off every night we have to duct tape them to their beds. I'm kidding. We duct tape them to the basement floor.

The point is, to quote Lili Von Shtupp, I'm so tired. So I drank my Yamazaki Mizunara Cask casually while staring at the internets mindlessly. It was great. Actually I don't even remember that night and it was Tuesday. Living The Dream.

Distillery: Yamazaki
Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Oyamazaki, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Age: ???

Maturation: matured entirely in Mizunara oak casks (allegedly)
Annual Edition: 2012

Alcohol by Volume: 48%
Chillfiltered? No
Added colorant? ???
(Thank you to Secret Agent Man for the sample!)

NOTES
The nose is very malty. Barley, pilsner, some hazelnuts. Anise candy, saline and roasted potatoes. A hint of snuffed incense. The palate has a mix of toffee and white fruit sweetness, with delicate baking spice notes lingering in the background. Candied ginger, wort and dunnage. After 30 minutes, a distinct note of a Belgian sour beer begins to develop. The beer note then drifts towards stout in the finish. Then anise, ginger and some tangy berries. The nose's maltiness returns at the end.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Less spicy and exotic than I'd anticipated; less cerebral, too. Instead, it's a just a very nice drink, and one of the most beer-y whiskies I've had. I'll bet it's a good match for any of the beers referenced in the notes, which is neat because the whisky costs only $2000-$4000. Hopefully that didn't make you spit-take your first pour from your Mizunara bottle. Kanpai!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - Money, lots of Money

Rating - 88

Willett Family Estate 24 year old 1984 Single Barrel Rye, barrel 637

This is one of my Apocalypse Pours. My family is safe and healthy but I know of other families that are not. So what the hell.

Here's one of the old Willett gems some American fellows speak of in whispers or flip for thousands of bones. This barrel was selected by Bonili, a Japanese distributor, during Willett's early wax top years. I've heard it referred to as 24/110. It may have been distilled at Old Bardstown Distillery, or perhaps on the surface of Ganymede. In either case, this stuff ain't bein' distilled no more.

Bottler: Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, Ltd. (a.k.a. Willett)
Range: Family Estate Single Barrel (WFE)
Distillery: Old Bardstown?
Type: Straight Rye Whiskey

Age: 24 years

Maturation: White Oak

Region: Kentucky
Barrel: 637
Outturn: 264
Selected by: Bonili Japan Co., Ltid.

Alcohol by Volume: 55%
(888 thank yous to Secret Agent Man for sharing!)

The nose begins with rye bread, Irish soda bread, fennel seed, cherry shisha and antique shop (the big furniture room). A caramel sauce-laden ice cream sundae. Old armagnac spilled on old newspapers. It reads very dusty, as if it were from the '50s or '60s rather than the '80s.

On the palate, the oak has travelled far beyond the boring bitterness of Diageo's 15-25 year old Orphan Barrels, and into a dense medicinal realm. Eucalyptus, mint and arugula leaves. Its earthiness is balanced by a Dr. Brown's cherry soda sweetness. After 45 minutes it tilts savory and picks up some curry-like spices.

The finish ditches the sweetness for medicine and earth. More eucalyptus and mint leaves. Hints of cigarette smoke in the back ground.

There's always a sparring whisky on hand for every tasting here. But this time I had nothing to compare this to. I pulled wee pours of 8 and 12 year old Willett single bourbon casks, but those knelt sheepishly in the shadow of this 24yo. As per notes above, this had such a romantic dusty edge that it felt like it was distilled one or two generations earlier than it actually was. Its syrup-thick concentrated texture may have been the rye's loveliest element. If one could hold time in a glass...

Availability - ???
Pricing - ???

Rating - 91

Mathilda and Papa Eat Kit Kats, Part One

Relevant tasting notes:

Killing Whisky History, Episode 30: MacDonald's Glencoe Malt Whisky, two bottles a half-century apart

Well, I'm home. And you're probably home too. And home is where the whisky is. 'Tis a wonder it took only two weeks for a Killing Whisky History episode to be birthed.

Because of the times, this episode is a little light on history but heavy on alcohol. To be more specific, there are two bounteous pours from freshly opened MacDonald's Glencoe Blended Malts. Ben Nevis malt is at the heart of both whiskies, one is a mini from the '60s/'70s, the other is a 750mL bottle from the late Teens.

Please enjoy, THE BOMB SHELTER EDITION.

Life of a Whisky Bottle: Tobermory 10 year old (2015)

The 46.3%abv version of Tobermory 10 year old succeeds as a unique and spirit-forward single malt. Since this whisky was rebooted as a higher ABV, unchillfiltered expression in 2010, both Burn Stewart Distillers have Distell Group resisted trying to turn it into something cuddlier and more commercial. So it was with plenty of joy that I opened my bottle four months ago. But by the end of the bottle, that pleasure drifted to exhaustion. More on that in a bit.

I pulled samples from the very top of the bottle in early November 2019, then at the midpoint in January 2020, then at its very bottom last week. These three pours were tried side-by-side so I could observe how the whisky progressed with time and oxygen.

Distillery: Tobermory
Brand: Tobermory
Owner: Distell International
Region: Isle of Mull
Age: minimum 10 years
Maturation: American oak casks
Bottle code: PO33859 L5 10:22 15097
Bottling year: 2015, I think
Alcohol by Volume: 46.3%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? No
(from my bottle)

Top of the bottle sample from November 2019
Nose - A mix of pear and barley eau de vies. Heck, throw in Slivovitz too. Juniper, lavender flowers, mint leaves, sugar and a hint of yeast.

Palate - Lots of barley. Saltines and a bitter herbal liqueur. A gentle sweetness and tartness.

Finish - Saltines, raw almonds and a mild sweetness.

---

Middle of the bottle sample from January 2020
Nose - Brighter and a little more rounded. Flower blossoms, brown sugar and citronella candles. There's also a curious raisin note and flour dust. Though the barley supposedly has a peat measure of 0-2ppm, a definite peat-like phenolic note appears after 15 minutes.

Palate - Tart lemons, brown sugar, horseradish and chewed grass start things off. With time in the glass, the whisky develops notes of roasted sweet potato, raw almonds and Slivovitz.

Finish -  There's the peat-ish note again. Then horseradish, wort and a growing sweetness.

---

Bottom of the bottle sample from March 2020
Nose - Drifting back towards new make, it smells floral and grassy. Small notes of chicken broth and citronella linger in the background. The peat note has disappeared.

Palate - Milder now. Moderate tartness and bitterness. Lemons, grass and malt. Toasted grains and nuts.

Finish - Soft, grassy and malty, with a hint of lemon cookies.

---

CONCLUSIONS
Though I was excited to start this whisky in November, I'd gotten desperate to finish it in March. In fact, this review was supposed to happen three weeks ago but I just couldn't bring myself to drink anymore of it for fun. And that's a problem.

There's a bit of confirmation bias here, probably. I tend to like whiskies best at mid-bottle, and sure enough that was the best spot for this one. By then the whisky had gained some interesting angles and the peat-like notes gave it much-needed depth. I doubt those characteristics lasted long.

While I cannot deny that young Tobermory is truly its own animal and I applaud the honest, naked nature of this official bottling, I have no interest in ever buying it again. Perhaps my palate has changed, or maybe this stuff drinks better in late spring, or clearer signs of mortality have made me fussier about my poisons, but there was no thrill to be found in this bottle.

Availability - Worldwide, though possibly being phased out for the 12yo
Pricing - $45 - $65
Rating - 82 (and only at mid-bottle)